47:29.3N 3:06.1W 

27th August 2020 

Port Haliguen (Quiberon) 

We sat around PLF for a bit and then left 4 days ago in moderate weather but with little wind. First the bow thrusters went, then the mainsail jammed yet again, then the most awful noise started coming from the prop shaft and was rev dependant. We staggered 33 miles to good old Port Louis (next to Lorient) with the “prop” noise getting better but not gone. Clare had their signature fish&chips and I had langoustines and scallops; they still have 101 ways of serving moules! Excellent food but I was still very unhappy. 

The bow thruster turned out to be the isolation switch fitted by two elderly Spaniards a year ago, who clearly spent more time talking about football than tightening the screws and it shorted again. The jammed mainsail eventually went back in the mast with a lot of pushing using screwdrivers, a wooden spatula and fingers&thumbs; not many holes left in the sail (and only very little ones!). I’m not sure how to stop it jamming again but will fiddle with the boom height when furling – I think I last furled it with the sheet hard down. The last time this happened regularly it cost us a new mainsail but I suppose that was 10 years ago, on the other hand the sailmaker who laundered it over the winter didn’t say it was baggy. The “prop shaft bearing” noise thankfully almost completely disappeared during the next 25 miles, so with any luck it was just rubbish stuck in/around the rope stripper; the water is far too murky to see and we’re certainly not going to get wet looking! 

Got here yesterday and had a good meal where Robert took us last year. This whole place is a bit of a tip with totally unchanged building works that make the M23 roadworks look like 10 miles of frantic activity. Weather’s going to be a bit grim so we’ll stay here and do some shopping 2 miles away in Quiberon; Clare says we can hire bicycles which should be fun. 

[All these Atlantic depressions are a bit trying but we do get some nice days in between. I have my doubts about getting on a bicycle, certainly not in the rain!  - Clare]

A friend says my blogs are a bit boring because they mainly consist of equipment failures and how to mend them; sorry about that, but it’s my life nowadays! 

Keith